Family terrorized by cougar

Residents of this mountain town are watching out for a hungry, possibly sick cougar that lingered outside a home, trying to get in, after one of the occupants rescued a dog from the big cat's jaws.

"It stood on the other side of our door, pawing and hissing. I'm pretty sure it wanted dinner," said Tom Cuell, whose wife saved their small dog.

"It was all very disturbing when we realized it was a cougar."

Wildlife officers spent Tuesday tracking the cougar on the benchlands on the north side of Canmore while residents were warned to take precautions.

The cougar, weighing as much as 22 kilograms, has not been found and is believed to be unhealthy and looking for an easy meal.

The dog is recovering at a Canmore veterinary clinic with head injuries after it was attacked and carried away by the cat.

Roman -- a Yorkshire terrier-bichon-Shih Tzu cross -- has been put on a vigorous round of antibiotics to fight infection.

"It looks like the dog will pull through," said Cuell.

"They'll keep him in for another night or two. He's on a drip. He recognized me when I went in," he added.

"It's a pretty bad head wound. The cougar grabbed the dog by the head and was probably going to finish him off in the woods."

Tom's two young daughters, aged 10 and seven, were playing in the yard of their Eagle Landing house about half an hour before the cougar carried away their pet late Monday evening.

The incident began to unfold around 9 p.m., when the dog dashed out the door of the house. The cougar quickly snatched it in its mouth and headed for the forest.

Thinking the animal was a coyote, Tom's wife, Lucille, gave chase and threw a rock at the cougar, which dropped the dog.

The cougar returned to the home after midnight. It was scratching and pressing against the door of the home for about 15 minutes.

Fish and Wildlife officers spent three to four hours trying to track down the wild cat with cougar hounds Tuesday on the benchlands north of town and in an area south of the Alpine Club.

While taking a dog to eat is not unusual behaviour for opportunistic cougars, scratching at the door of the Cuells' home raised a red flag for Fish and Wildlife officers.

"We weren't real comfortable with that type of cougar behaviour -- it's not typical behaviour to actually scratch a door," said Jason Cadzow, a Fish and Wildlife officer with Alberta Sustainable Resource Development.

Cadzow said they were unsuccessful in trying to find the cougar, given the warm and dry weather.

Cougars, who leave behind a strong scent and cat dandruff, are easier to track on snow-covered ground.

He said people should keep their cats inside, keep a close eye on pets that are outside and keep dogs on a leash while walking.

"Whether people want to admit it or not, we're living in bear and cougar country," he said.

"We know cougars and black bears and grizzly bears are always frequenting the valley, both using the wildlife corridors as well as travelling around the fringes of some of residential areas."

In July, a woman from Spruce Grove was forced to fight for her life to fend off an aggressive cougar that had been stalking her as she hiked alone on one of the most popular trails in Kootenay National Park.

In January 2001, a cougar stalked and killed a Canmore woman, Frances Frost, as she cross-country skied alone in broad daylight near Lake Minnewanka, about 12 kilometres from the Town of Banff.

Earlier that day, another Banff resident walking her dog in a residential neighbourhood on the opposite side of the valley was stalked by a different cougar.

"If a cougar does come back to take a dog or kill a dog, we definitely want to hear about it," said Cadzow.

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